Two from two over fences before the off, he wasn't as fluent over his obstacles as he had done previously and Paul Townend would have been concerned on the approach to the last, when Jack Kennedy had a lead and also appeared to be going the better of the pair.
However, the mare was bold at the final fence and came down quite steeply, pecking slightly on landing and handing the initiative back to the Willie Mullins-trained runner.
The seven-year-old hung left across the favourite as he want past, causing Kennedy to switch his mount and, after Riviere D'etel rallied well on the run-in and went down by just half-a-length, the stewards were keen to have a look at possible interference. After doing so, the places remained unaltered.
Mullins said of his contender for next month's Arkle Challenge Trophy at Cheltenham: "It was a good performance, he did what was required. It was a tough race, there was no hiding place there as there was plenty of pace on up front.
"He jumped well throughout, he came under a little bit of pressure turning for home, but once he got running going to the last it was just a matter of jumping the last, I thought.
"He jumped well today and I couldn't fault what he did, I'm happy enough he did everything right.
"Paul said when he got to the front he just did what he did in Naas, he just idled. Between the wind and the crowd here today you could see him looking around himself. I'm very happy with his performance."
